Month: November 2012

My husband came up with a rather genius idea for chocolate chip snickerdoodles, a few days ago. I was intrigued, but a little too busy with my own things to take time for something like cookies.

Then, not to wax all political on here, but suffice it to say, I was a little bummed about the election results. So I thought some delicious cookies were just the thing. 🙂

I heard good things from this snickerdoodle recipe, and I must say, it did NOT disappoint. So good!
My only change was that before I rolled the balls in cinnamon sugar (mine were about 1-1&1/2 inch balls) I pressed chocolate chips into them in the shape of a cute little smiley face. Then you just roll then in the cinnamon sugar, and make sure they get onto the pan face-up.

Bake exactly as directed, and give them at least a minute or two to firm up. They’re excellent both hot and cold.

See, what a cute little smile! And it’s made of chocolate. Bonus. <3

I’d recommend using 4-ish chips for the smile, if you do the cute faces, since the dough flattens very evenly, you can really pack the chips in, and they’ll come out very nice.

These are probably my new favorite cookie! I’d have process pictures and everything, but it really was that simple. (Plus, we only had this cookie, plus half of one of his buddies left when I thought to snap a picture of it! They went fast.)

Because if it turns out well, it’s worth doing again, right? And doing even better this time, naturally.

Now, I’ve been getting comments on how the directions for the Divine Beret were too vague, and frankly, they were. I’ve gotten at least a bit better with my pattern writing since then (plus, I had it looked over).

So, I revisited! Both for your benefit, and my own. I was in need of a cute winter hat, with it getting colder, and I had to disassemble the divine beret for the yarn. Christmas presents, you know.

So, what we have here is Divine Beret Mark II, or “Angel Beret”.

Here it is! Look familiar? 😉

I believe in the power of cream. It’s a lovely color. It just makes crocheted things look so great. When in doubt, go for cream. (Especially if you have a complexion like mine!)
This pattern should help clear things up with the Divine Beret, too, except for these differences:

the Divine Beret has double crochet instead of half double crochet.

the spiral on the Divine Beret. To make the front post stitch ridges curve so prettily, all you have to do is make the fps in the space following the one that the last round was in. So, you simply offset it by one stitch, which makes it curve gently, as you see in the Divine Beret.

the edges of the hats are different! The Angel Beret has a few rows of shell stitches, which flare out and make a perfect spot to lace a ribbon, whereas the Divine Beret has a ribbed edge, made up of both front and back post stitches.

So, if you find yourself feeling lost on the Divine Beret… You’re not alone, and I’m sorry if it taunted you with pretty results and vague directions. Hopefully this pattern (recently posted in Crochetvolution) will help to bridge the gap for my inexperience at the time.

Angel Beret:

22″ around at band

Red Heart Super Saver (less than a full skein)

J/10 (6.00mm size) hook

Ribbon (22″, plus length enough to tie a bow)

Gauge: 12 sts/11 rows = 4″/10cm in hdc

“Shell”=Skip 1 st, make 4 hdc in next st.

Worked in a continuous spiral.

Directions:

Rnd 1: Make a magic circle. Ch 2, place 8 hdc in the circle and pull tight. (8 hdc)

Rnd 3: [FPdc around FPdc in previous row, hdc in same st, hdc in next st] around. (24 sts)

Rnd 4: [FPdc around FPdc in previous row, hdc in same st, hdc in next 2 sts] around. (32 sts)

Rnds 5-18: Repeat Rnd 4, increasing the number in bold by 1 with each repetition and increasing the stitch count by 8 each round. (Final count: 144 sts)

Rnds 19-23: *FPdc around FPdc in previous row, hdc in next st. Hdc across until 3 sts remain before next FPdc. YO, pull up a loop in each of the next 3 sts, YO, pull through all loops on hook. Repeat from * around, decreasing stitch count by 16 each round. (Final count: 64 sts)

Rnd 24: *FPdc around FPdc in previous row, hdc in next st. Hdc across until 2 sts remain before next FPdc. YO, pull up a loop in each of the next 2 sts, YO, pull through all loops on hook. Repeat from * around. (56 sts)

Rnd 26: *FPdc around FPdc in previous row. Make 1 hdc in the space before the shell from previous row, [skip shell, make 1 shell in the space between shells from previous row] 2 times, skip shell, hdc in space between shell and next FPdc. Repeat from * around.

Rnd 27: Repeat Rnd 25.

Rnd 28: Repeat Rnd 26; join round, finish off.

Finishing
Lace a contrasting ribbon through the top row of shells; even ends and tie a bow.

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About Me

I'm Bonnie, a newlywed stretching our finances through crafting. This is a blog about my crafts, cooking, and works of art, like sculpting, collage, or painting. I crochet, do macrame, bake/ cook food (though I prefer desserts!) and make candy, as well as sew, weave, and anything else I can get my hands on.